Blog
Welcome!
Hello and welcome to the Foursight blog page.
If you are looking for the dedicated blog for The Corner Shop, which took place in Nov 2009, and its associated education programme, click here.
The Special Correspondence Book - 08 July 2010
The Special Correspondence Club book has arrived! Why not click on the link to preview it or even order yourself a copy?
Book title: The Special Correspondence Club, By: Foursight Theatre, Category: Education
http://www.blurb.com/books/1421747
Pertencia R&D Video - 29 June 2010
Over two weeks in May, we worked with TRSM to develop material for our new co-production Pertencia. Here's a short video giving you an insight into the process.
Click here to visit the show page for more information on the show.
Pertencia next stages: Friday 28 May 2010, by Frances Land.
Sadly our two weeks of devising with Teatro do Montemurro is now over and so the next stage of the work kicks in. We have 4 months until we meet agin and during that time will be drawing on the work developed together so far to create a draft script ready for rehearsals at the end of Sept. Some great songs and musical styles were already emerging, we now need to decide what the additional songs will be and get Mary and Ricardo on the case to develop the music.
The design team from Portugal also joined us last week sitting in on the process to get a feel for what this new show might be and spending a bit of time at a local butcher's shop to get a few ideas.
And so with just a few months to polish up my Portuguese I am off for my last lesson before the summer.
Ciao
image: from left to right Paulo Duarte, Eduardo Correia, Frances Land. photo by Robert Day.
Pertencia R&D: Week 2 Day 1 - Monday 17 May 2010, by Frances Land (Actor/Deviser & Co-Artistic Director, Foursight)
As we enter our second week I've been reflecting on the first, and I'm delighted to say we've already developed a very strong sense of this ensemble. Our two musicians Mary and Ricardo have been improvising and responding to the devising, and setting Peter's lyrics to music. We've been working with text and playing with the two languages; and looking at how language can also have its own musical score.
This week we will also return to the butcher's shop, a potential holding frame for the show that we explored at the beginning of our first week. We will see how we can play and push the grotesque elements of the show and its dark humour, and find conventions for pulling in contemporary stories and references; stories which in themselves are hard to believe: of children being lost, abandoned, taken and sold on as if they were just a commodity. No longer a child, just another animal passing through into the dark world at the back of the butcher's shop...
Image: Mary Keith (Co-Musical Director) and Frances Land
Pertencia R&D: Week 1, Day 4 - Fri 14 May 2010, by Lucy Tuck (Actor/Deviser)
Earlier this week the four strong vibrantly male contingent that is Teatro do Montemuro moved into my flat. "Three's a crowd" they say, so four in my 2 bedroom flat must be! I'm well out of it, and on 'holiday' staying round the corner at Co-Director Naomi Cooke's house, happy to be the absent hostess. But the boys have my house-proud number already, and take pleasure in teasing me about re-arranging my whole flat by my return at the end of next week. Ha ha ha!
A good sense of humour, I note, is common ground for our two companies. In the rehearsal room we are finding our working route through in exciting and co-curious steps as we negotiate the complex environment of devising in two languages. We are discovering the performance frisson of the piece with more than usual attention to clarity, as we bear in mind the cross-cultural audiences we will be performing to, as well as the cross of culture we are performing with!
But it feels strong so far and after just a few days in the rehearsal room with this experienced mix of people, I feel very happy to be on board with Pertencia, my 7th project with Foursight Theatre.
So onwards and upwards, and as they say in Portuguese, OBRIGARDA!
Image: Lucy Tuck (second left) with members of Foursight & TRSM
Pertencia R&D: Week 1, Day 2 - Wed 12 May 2010, by Frances Land (Actor/Deviser & Co-Artistic Director, Foursight)
Fortunately the cloud of volcanic ash lifted above Portugal just long enough to allow Teatro do Montemuro to get across to us for the next couple of weeks.
We are now into our second day together having spent a day sharing stories that each company unearthed during their research.
Working with a mixture of English and Portuguese I think and hope we now have a shared understanding of these stories, which will form our starting point for the devising process.
And so today we've been on our feet, just beginning to explore how we find a shared language with our team of devisers and musicians, writing and improvising on themes relevant to the piece.
Over the next few weeks, myself and members of the Foursight Team will be blogging on the devising process. I hope that these insights will excite you, and whet your appetite for the full production. We look forward to welcoming you to a performance with us either Portugal or the UK.
Image: Frances leading a warm-up
Pertencia Research & Development: Week 1, Day 0 - Mon 10 May 2010
This week (from tomorrow) and next we welcome members of Teatro do Montemuro to Wolverhampton to begin work on our new production Pertencia. Each of us have our own style and approach but something crucial in common: a commitment to creating vibrant new theatre.
A new piece of devised theatre that tours Portugal in the autumn and the UK in March 2011, Pertencia moves between the real and the fantastical using characters and imagery from folk tales, fairy tales and urban myths to explore deep seated fears and desires. Mischievous and irreverent, Pertencia touches on themes that are ageless and contemporary: loss, abandonment, displacement, kidnapping. The fears of children and the terror of adults.
Image: Marketing image for Pertencia